Dark Cornish crossed with Freedom Rangers?

[jsmonasmith]

After much more reading and contemplation I have once again changed directions on my project. I will be going in a very similar direction as speedy2020. I am going to be breeding Dark Cornish with Black Copper Marans for the base of my project, then supplementing with other breeds as I see a need. In doing this I am going to preserve pure strains of both breeds as well, kind of as a back up plan but also for the sake of working on developing those breeds further for the sake of contributing to those breeds blood line diversity. As supplemental breeds I have considered as possibilities- Cornish X, Freedom Rangers, Rhode Island Reds, and EE's, etc, pretty much just to improve possible deficiencies in my project flock such as size, egg production, shape, and fast growth. I think that a DC X BCM is a good place to start though, especially since most breeders of these breeds take a lot of pride in their blood lines. I have some eggs on the way from a breeder who says her eggs are from Wade Jeans line of BCM's. I'm going to let my broody DC hatch them. It's not incest if she becomes their Adopted Mom, is it?

Just kidding! I really like both the DC and BCM so I think this will be the final decision on the direction of my project. I saw that SteveH is doing a similar project with Blue Egg Layers, maybe down the road we'll have to swap some eggs to cross lines, blue egg layers with dark brown eggs should produce a nice olive egg color. Basically all of my chickies will be made into a variety of chicken dishes, except for my sole DC, for now. At 22 weeks of age barely any of them are over 4 lbs, so they have been a great disappointment. And with their small size I doubt they will start laying before spring. Right now I have 19 chickens eating me out of house and home and not laying a single egg. And my pets seem to be eating more of my chickens than I do lately. Grrrr!

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

I have BCM in one of my meat bird lines and LOVE what it did for that pen.

 

[jsmonasmith]

Thanks katythechickenlady, good to hear some good feedback from someone else who's used them.

 

[Baymule]

I think you have some good ideas. If you want quality chickens, look to the breeders. There is a thread titled Official Heritage Large Fowl Thread that has some top breeders and the pictures of their birds are outstanding. The thread covers a variety of breeds that you might be interested in for your cross breeding project as well as possibly becoming a heritage breeder yourself. Get a pot of coffee and settle in for some intensive, enjoyable reading. The information on this thread from so many experienced breeders is outstanding. It makes me wish I could keep roosters. (live in town with close neighbors)
There are some gorgeous blue laced red wyandottes that positively make me drool.

Good luck to you.

 

[jsmonasmith]

Thanks for the link, I'll be heading over there immediately to check it out.